1. Field of the Invention
An aspect of this disclosure relates to an authentication system, an authentication method, and an apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an organization such as a company, an image forming apparatus (e.g., a multifunction peripheral including a facsimile function, a scanning function, and a copying function) is often connected via a network to plural computer terminals to share the image forming apparatus. In such an environment, it is necessary to maintain the security of image data handled on the network.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-123699 discloses an image forming apparatus employing biometric authentication to maintain security. Biometric authentication provides higher security compared with authentication based on user IDs and passwords or IC cards.
However, since biometric authentication based on biometric information is a complex process, it tends to take a long time and may sometimes produce different authentication results for the same user depending on the conditions of the biometric information. Accordingly, while biometric authentication improves security, there are also some disadvantages in using biometric authentication.